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Sports Shorts: Djokovic continues to dominate ATP rankings

Last updated on: September 23, 2014 18:49 IST

Serbia's Novak Djokovic

Serbia's Novak Djokovic. Photograph: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

The ATP issued the latest men's tennis rankings on Monday and the top 10 list remains unchanged with Serbian tennis ace Novak Djokovic still leading the rankings.

Djokovic tops the list with 12,150 points and has a huge advantage over long-time rivals Rafael Nadal on 8,665 and Roger Federer on 8, 170 points, respectively.

The latest of ATP's top 10 are:

1. Novak Djokovic

2. Rafael Nadal

3. Roger Federer

4. Stanislas Wawrinka

5. David Ferrer

6. Milos Raonic

7. Tomas Berdych

8. Kei Nishikori

9. Marin Cilic

10. Grigor Dimitrov

Sania-Cara qualify for Year-End World finals

Sania Mirza, Cara Black

Sania Mirza, right, with Cara Black. Photograph: Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images

The Indo-Zimbawbwean combination of Sania Mirza and Cara Black became the fourth pair to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore, next month.

It would be Mirza's maiden appearance at the event, the WTA announced in a press release.

Black would be making her 11th appearance in the competition having qualified for the previous 10 years with three different partners - Elena Likhovtseva, Rennae Stubbs and Liezel Huber.

Sania and Cara would compete in the eight-team doubles competition, joining Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, and defending champions Peng Shuai and Hsieh Su-Wei, who qualified earlier.

"Cara and I are excited to have qualified for the WTA Finals and look forward to competing against the best teams in the world," Mirza said in the WTA statement.

"I'll be making my first appearance at the season finale while for Cara it's the first time since she became a mother, so we have lots to celebrate already," she added.

Murray disappointed over Scottish independence Twitter row

Scotland's Andy Murray

Andy Murray. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, who was abused on social media for tweeting his support for Scottish independence last week, was disappointed over the matter but did not "regret giving an opinion" he told the BBC on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old Scot tweeted his support for the Yes campaign a few hours before the polls opened last Thursday, but told the BBC he thought the United Kingdom was now going to be stronger after Scottish voters rejected independence.

Speaking to the BBC in China, he said: "It was a very emotional day for Scottish people and the whole country and the whole of the UK -- it was a big day.

"The way it was worded, the way I sent it, is not really in my character. I don't normally do stuff like that.

"So, yeah, I was a bit disappointed by that. It's time to move on. I can't go back on that and I'll concentrate on my tennis for the next few months."

Murray, who has 55,000 Twitter followers, tweeted: "Huge day for Scotland today! No campaign negativity last few days totally swayed my view on it. Excited to see the outcome. Lets do this!"

Murray, who won the Wimbledon men's singles title last year to become the first British winner since Fred Perry in 1936, was then subjected to online abuse with one hate message referring to the Dunblane massacre in 1996.

He was a pupil at the Dunblane school where Thomas Hamilton murdered 16 children and their teacher.

Asked what he meant by his tweet, he replied: "I don't want to go into too much detail about it, it's been obviously a hard few days for me.

"From my side, I just want to move on from it and hope everyone can."

He added: "I think it was amazing how many people turned out to vote. I personally wasn't able to vote. I trust the Scottish people made the right decision."

Murray has never been universally popular in England, especially after his comments he made as a rising teenager when he said in an interview he supported "whoever England were playing against" in football internationals.

Serena quits Wuhan Open midway following illness

Serena Williams

Serena Williams. Photograph: Mike Stobe/Getty Images for USTA

World No 1 Serena Williams withdrew from the Wuhan Open on Tuesday after falling ill midway through the first set of her second round match against Frenchwoman Alize Cornet.

The American top seed was leading 6-5 after breaking Cornet's serve with a smash only for the doctor to come on court at the change over and take the 32-year-old's temperature.

Williams, who was playing in her first match since winning her 18th grand slam singles title at the US Open earlier this month, sat solemnly, head down with a towel around her neck and a thermometer in her mouth before opting against continuing.

Williams had showed flashes of her usual brilliance but did not look at full fitness throughout her hour of activity on the centre court.

Her exit only added to the headache for organisers of the inaugural $2.4 million hard court event, where top names tumbled in early action after the city's tennis trailblazer Li Na announced her retirement from the game last week.

Former World No 1 and 10th seed Jelena Jankovic was also forced to quit her second round match on Tuesday in the first set while trailing American CoCo Vandeweghe 4-1.

That followed the departure of Romanian world number two Simona Halep, who was beaten by an aggressive display from Garbine Muguruza.

The Spanish 20-year-old smashed 34 winners as she knocked out the second seed 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 and set up a third-round meeting with Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, who battled back from a 5-0 first set deficit to edge Germany's Sabine Lisicki 7-6(3), 6-3.

Italian 11th seed Sara Errani was ousted by American Alison Riske 6-4, 6-4, while Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky defeated 13th seed and U.S. Open semi-finalist Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-4, 6-1.

Danish eighth seed Caroline Wozniacki, who lost to Williams in the Flushing Meadows final in New York, narrowly avoided joining the exodus after battling back from a break down in the third set to edge Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1 3-6 7-6(4).

On Monday, fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, ninth seed Ana Ivanovic, 12th seed Dominika Cibulkova, 14th seed Lucie Safarova and 15th seed Flavia Pennetta all made early-round exits to leave the tournament wide open.

Arsenal's Debuchy out for three months after ankle surgery

Mathieu Debuchy

Mathieu Debuchy of Arsenal is injured in the first half during the Barclays Premier League match against Manchester City. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Arsenal full-back Mathieu Debuchy has had surgery on his left ankle and will be out for about three months, manager Arsene Wenger said on Monday.

The France international joined Arsenal from Newcastle United for 12 million pounds ($19.6 million) in July and has played only seven times for his new club.

He suffered the injury after falling awkwardly when Arsenal drew 2-2 with Manchester City on Sept. 13.

"He has had surgery and will be out for three months," Wenger told the club's website.

Wenger has been criticised by Arsenal supporters for not having ensured sufficient cover at the back after allowing Thomas Vermaelen to leave for Barcelona.

West Ham's Kouyate out for six weeks

Cheikhou Kouyate

Cheikhou Kouyate of West Ham United in action. Photograph: Tom Dulat/Getty Images

West Ham United could be without midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate for up to six weeks after he suffered an injury in the Premier League win against Liverpool at the weekend, the London club's co-owner David Gold said on Monday.

The powerful 24-year-old Senegal international was injured towards the end of his side's impressive 3-1 home win against last season's league runners-up on Saturday but was forced to stay on the pitch because manager Sam Allardyce had used all three of his substitutes.

British media reports said Kouyate underwent scans on Monday to determine the extent of a groin injury.

The club was yet to confirm the injury.

West Ham are eighth in the league and visit Manchester United on Saturday.

Source: REUTERS
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